Xiao FangHu Yinping2016.12.21-2017.02.20

The sixty-five woollen hats that fill Arrow Factory’s window display and signal the arrival of winter are Xiao Fang, a new work by Beijing-based artist Hu Yinping.

In early 2016 during a visit to her hometown in Sichuan, Hu Yinping discovered that her mom, along with other women in the town spent their leisure time knitting one type of hat— which were then sold to a middleman. Appalled by the paltry compensation and disheartened by the neighbors’ claims that they made these handicrafts to ‘kill time’, Hu devised a circumstance whereby a “friend” named Xiao Fang discreetly purchased only her mother’s hats at a significant markup. For the next twelve months, Hu witnessed the effects of this skewed valuation and watched her mother emerge into her own as a craftsman and a small business owner. Propelled by a desire to facilitate transactions with Xiao Fang, Hu’s mother learned to use Wechat (messaging app), opened a bank account and eventually began using her own name—instead of her husband’s, as the return address for shipments. Hu’s mother’s self-esteem rose and she gained a sense of self-reliance. As the knitted hats became more fanciful and creative, Hu and her mother discovered common grounds for conversation and connection. The displayed headgear is a small selection from the over 360 caps that comprise a year’s worth of knitting by Hu Yinping’s mother.

Although positive in many respects, Hu’s work Xiao Fang also navigates a treacherous line between fiction and reality, and runs the risk of hurt pride and injured self-worth. To date, Hu’s mother does not know and must never know that her hat dealer, Xiao Fang, is actually her daughter, Hu Yinping.

Despite earning her MFA from the sculpture department at the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in 2010, Hu Yinping （b. 1983, Chengdu, Sichuan) rarely works in sculpture. Instead, she channels chance meetings and fortuitous situations into insightful scenarios. Her work has been exhibited in solo exhibitions at 3 SPACE (2016) and MOCUBE (2016), and was included in the group exhibition “Unlived by What is Seen” at PACE Gallery (2014). She is a founding member of the “@rt Dang” collective (2012). Hu lives and works in Beijing.